Take It Easy On Me
by Anita and Tristan
Summary: This story takes place in Mystic Falls, all the characters have now moved on to College dragging along with them new enemies and past troubles that may or may not have gone away. Take a chance and read!


_**"A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward."**_

"Flagon University, hmm not too bad. It's more picturesque than the last one I've been to" Damon commented as they came to a stop in Elena's room after placing the bags down.

Elena rolled her eyes at his comment and resumed unpacking things out of her bag, she aimed to just get everything done so she could relax later.

She ushered Damon and Stefan to the door, and promised to speak to them later. She needed some time to let her hair loose. She smiled at the thought and grabbed her diary from her suitcase.

It felt as if it had been forever since she last wrote in here, she was aching to get back into that routine again; a hobby she completely loved.

_Dear Diary,_

_It's felt like years since I've touched the smoothness of your leather exterior. It feels like home. Luckily I am still in Mystic Falls, I don't think I could ever bring myself to leave._

_It holds sentimental memories. Those of my parents and Jenna, and even John who I always despised. _

_It has been a tough last few years, but coming to university has given me hope to start a new life, start over and move forward._

_I of course will never forget everything that happened with Klaus, and all his siblings. What happened with Stefan, and of course Alaric. _

_I know I also need to make a decision with the Salvatore's, my Salvatore's. I know its wrong keeping them on a string, but I don't know what I want yet. That should sound horrible, but its the truth. How do I choose?_

Just as she wrote the last line, there was laughter and then the door barged open, bringing Caroline and Bonnie inside with huge smiles adorning their faces.

Caroline sighed deeply as she saw Elena's hand still clutching her pen on top of her diary. "Oh come on, Elena how old are you? Seriously we need to party."

"Party? What party?" she asked. Trust Caroline to sniff out a party on their arrival at university. She looked to where Bonnie sat at the edge of the bed and just shrugged.

"Elena, please. Have you never heard of university parties, I'm telling you its going to be amazing. Quite frankly I don't care what you say, you are definitely going. Right Bonnie?" she turned towards her friend.

"Right" Bonnie said with a smile.

. . . . . . .

"You're definitely not rooming with me, Damon. We will kill each other" Stefan said as he sat at the desk.

"Technically I would kill you, brother but why not? I think it will be a good idea, imagine all the college girls that would be up here" he joked.

"That's not funny and my answer is still no."

"Damon sat up from the bed. Fine, be stuck up its fine" Damon commented and made his way to the door. "See you later Stef, I have a dorm to steal" he smirked and walked through the corridors.

He needed an excellent room, until he found one right at the end. He smiled as he gently tapped on the door. As soon as the boy entered he grinned and walked right in.

"Who are you? I'm not expected to have any roomates."

"Damon Salvatore, and that's good news" he said and scanned the room in appreciation before looking back to the man. "Now this is to become my room, you can share with my brother I'm sure he wouldn't mind" Damon said as he looked into the man's eyes and compelled him.

"O-okay" he said and quickly gathered up his things.

"That's brilliant, now let me show you" Damon said and guided the man to Stefan's door and opened it swiftly before ushering the man inside. "Stef I have a new roomate for you" he smiled.

"Damon. You can't kick people out of their dorms" Stefan knew immediately what Damon had done.

"Of course I can, I can do what I want."

Stefan sighed. "Are you actually going to take this seriously? I'm sure me and Tyler will do fine here on our own."

Damon laughed. "You're not going to get rid of me that easily, brother but yes I am serious about this. How hard can it actually be?" he smirked.

"Whatever you say Damon, just please don't cause any trouble."

"Yes yes, I'll behave Stefan" Damon said and left his brothers dorm and made his way to his own. It was fantastic, all for himself. What a good idea.

He gave the room one last look-over before he dashed around the room, rearranging it to his preference. He pulled out all his clothes and packed them away. "And the best part" he said aloud as he took out a few bottles of Bourbon and packed them away too.

Elena had seen Damon walk into his dorm and decided to invite him to the party Caroline had found out. She knocked on his door, looking around quickly, hoping no one would see her.

Damon heard a knock on the door, seeing Elena. He smirked and held onto the door. "I'm sorry no hawkers" he grinned.

"Very funny. Let me in, Damon, I'm not allowed here" she said and tried to usher him inside, peeking over her shoulder again.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you in" he winked.

"Because I want to talk to you" she said and looked up at him. "Please Damon?"

"Hmm only if you give me a kiss first, I know you like these kind of venues" he wagged his eyebrows.

Elena rolled her eyes. "You'll get me expelled on our first day if you don't let me in now" she said and looked into his eyes.

"Well you know I am here to protect you, a kiss is the least you could do" he tapped his cheek with a grin on his face.

Elena rolled her eyes again but was smiling on the inside. He was always making her smile, even if she was miserable. She stood on tiptoes and brought a soft kiss onto his cheek.

He smiled widely as he felt her tender lips on his cheek, he longed to push her up against the opposite wall and attack her with the most passionate kisses he could muster.. but for now he would remain calm. "Not too bad" he teased and stepped to the side to let her in.

"You're unbelievable" she said and stepped inside. "So" she said and turned to look at him.

"I know only one of a kind" he smirked and closed the door behind her. "So.."

"Caroline found out about a party and I...wanted to ask if you would come" she said and put her hands into the back pockets of her jeans awkwardly and looked at him.

"You're inviting me? Does it look like I do these kind of parties?" he sighed. "Howcome you're not asking Stefan?" he asked as he looked into her eyes.

Elena looked at him. "I...I will tell Stefan too" she said quietly. "I just wanted to ask if you would come and have some fun with us" she looked at him, knowing he was hurt over Alaric's death. And she wanted to help him cope better and show him he still had friends.

He looked at her then frowned and nodded slowly. "Okay. If you want me to be there I will" he said with a nod then cleared his throat. "So what kind of party is this?"

Elena smiled at him. "Uhm, I don't really know. But we're all going, Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler..." she trailed off but was glad he had accepted her offer.

"Okay I'll be there. You okay? I know you lost Ric and things aren't easy."

"Yes, I'm okay" she said and smile at him reassuringly. "A change of places was nice. I just hope Jeremy will be okay."

"I'm sure he will be, let's see how this college thing works out. My second time" he smiled.

"You've been to College before?" she asked him. "When was that?" she looked up at him interested.

"Before I was turned. I didn't want to be in the army anymore that was.. horrifying. Nevertheless Guiseppe wanted me to be like him, a businessman."

"Wow" Elena said, truly impressed. "So there's an intelectual side to you, very interesting" she joked but smiled at him. She liked how he was opening up to her.

He shrugged. "Well that's a page of the big black book I didn't want to open" he shook his head shortly and poured himself a drink. "Want one?"

Elena shook her head. "I'm already breaking a rule by being here, and it's only the first day" she smiled.

"Life is too short to live by rules that's why I break em" he downed a shot.

Elena smiled. He seemed like himself, but she wasn't sure about it. "So I see we all enjoying our Klaus free lives?"

"Most definitely, he can be thinking of his ponies that he will never touch again for the rest of his existance as he deteriorates in that coffin."

Elena shook her head with a smile. "Okay then I'll see you at the party. Where's Stefan's dorm?" she asked him.

"I'll see you later" he winked and opened the door for her. "Stefan is on the 3rd left."

"Thanks" she smiled over her shoulder before leaving his room.

"Try not get caught, Elena" he drawled and smiled mischievously before going back into his room again.

Thankfully Stefan answered the door quickly, she stepped in as Stefan let her inside.

"What brings you here? Is there something wrong?"

"No I'm trying not to get caught and I'm inviting you to the party tonight."

"Party huh, wow we just got here and there's already a party" he smiled. "Okay I'll be there" he smiled at her.

. . . . . . .

Damon groaned as he stepped inside dorm number 7 along with Stefan. He immediately spotted their 'friend' group by the drinks table.

None of them really liked him much, in fact most of them hated him. But he didn't care, the only one he worried about was Elena.

He walked along Stefan towards them. "Be careful to not make bad first impressions, you look like a bunch of alcoholics" Damon commented as he approached the group.

"Says the person who drinks from the morning" Caroline snapped at him.

"Well Caroline let me tell you something, I understand you're blonde and all but think of it this way. It must be 3pm somewhere in the world when its our morning so don't start with me."

Damon smirked as he saw Caroline grab Tyler's hand and walk off in the other direction.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow at him then took her drink and walked off too.

"Oh dear, Bonnie are you leaving too? I was hoping for some more of those brain teasers."

"You'll get one if you continue to piss me off" she commented before she made her way over to Caroline.

Damon sighed as he turned back to Stefan and Elena. "What?" he asked as he saw Elena's raised eyebrow at him.

"What's wrong with you Damon. This is different even for you."

"Thanks for the complement" he said then sighed as she glared at him again. "Okay you want to know? I'm bored, out of my mind. This place is going to kill me. There's no Klaus to worry about and now our lives are boring."

"I kind of like life now. I'll take boring over evil Klaus anyday" Stefan remarked.

"That's you Stefan, the weirdo who does nothing for over a century. You even worked on a farm. How boring is that?"

Elena turned to Stefan. "You worked on a farm? When? You never told me."

Damon interrupted quickly. "It's because he doesn't like to brag about the highlight of his life" he said sarcastically, earning him yet another glare from both Stefan and Elena this time. He took in a deep breath and walked off, he needed to have some fun; this place was killing him.

He left the dorm room, he needed some piece. He walked outside and to his dorm before grabbing a bottle of Bourbon and made his way back into the grounds.

He climbed up onto the wall and sat down before taking a large sip of his Bourbon. It was so much easier dealing with everything this way, he was in a dark place but the others didn't need to know that.

The only friend he had, he lost. If he thought about it, it was his fault after all. He had snapped Alaric's neck all those times and because of that it brought our his crazy side, trying to kill all the founders.

If he had only listened none of it would have happened. All the memories were worth nothing, the same with Elena. He knew she had yet to choose, but she still loved Stefan. He could see it, and they had become even closer these last dew days, which meant he had to be the bad guy.

He took a few more gulps from the bottle and heard someone behind him. He turned on the wall to see an elderly man shining a torch in his eyes. "Evening" he said.

"You're not permitted to use alcohol on these grounds" the man said.

"Hmm looks like you need one. Want one?" Damon quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Could you please just get off the wall and hand over the alcohol, I don't want any trouble."

"Are you mental?" Damon asked as he jumped down from the wall and stood in front of the man. "You know what, maybe you're right. But I am hungry" he said and faster than the man could do anything, he dug his fangs into his neck, draining him of his blood.

As they man fell limp to the ground, Damon straightened his shoulders. "Talk about matured wine" he said into the darkness before lifting the man in his arms again, the body needed to be disposed of.

As he looked up he saw a glint from one of the windows, when he looked further it was gone. He shrugged and kept walking, that would just be his conscious playing games on him as usual.

. . . . . . .

"Do you think that's something's wrong, I mean he hasn't even spoken about Alaric" Elena said.

Stefan took in a deep breath. "I'm not sure, but something isn't right Alaric was his friend. I think he's taking it worse than we all think. I know my brother, and how he deals with his problems" Stefan said with coldness in his eyes.

"You don't think he's killing people again right?" Elena asked, which only made Stefan shrug in return.

"I don't know, but I'll talk to him. Let's forget about that and enjoy the party" Stefan said with a smile as he held out his hand for Elena to dance with him.

. . . . . . .

Elena had excused herself from the party, she was getting tipsy and she needed some fresh air. She was walking alongside the wall surrounding the college's grounds as she saw a dark figure walking by, and she squinted her eyes. The figure was obviously carrying another person.

Damon stopped dead as he heard someone nearby, he hoped it wasn't Stefan. He didn't feel like another lecture, so he slowly began walking again.

Elena walked closer to the figure until she realised who it was and stopped dead in her tracks. "Damon?" she said and only realised after she had said it that he could hear her.

"Elena? What are you doing out here? Go back inside" he said and dropped the body to the ground.

"What you are doing, is the better question." she said and stepped closer to him. "Are you back to killing people?"

He sighed and just looked at her. "Who said I stopped?"

"Damon, why?" she asked and looked into his eyes. "We're all here for you, I am here for you. You don't need to do this."

He looked at her and shook his head. "Thats what you think but its not true."

"It is true, Damon" she said softly and stepped closer. "Please, Damon. Come back in with me" she said and put a hand on his arm, deliberatly trying to ignore the dead body to their feet.

"Those are your friends Elena, they hate me and I'm not too fond of them either. What about the body" he searched her eyes. "You're supposed to hate me for this."

"I don't hate you. I know that this is your way of coping" she said and threw a glance at the body. "Even though I don't like it, I understand it" she said and looked back into his eyes.

"Coping with what? I don't need to cope with anything Elena I'm fine."

Elena looked at him with a pained look on her face. "I know you miss Alaric just as much as I do. Why won't you admit it?"

"Because that's over and done with. He's dead there's no point in dwelling on it."

"I thought you changed. But you're no better than when I met you" she said and looked at him before turning around and walking back towards the dorm.

He looked after her and felt a pang to his chest, but pushed that feeling away. He wasn't here to make friends. He picked up the body again and kept walking, trying to find a place to bury it.

. . . . . . .

"Hi, Ben speaking."

"Yes they're here all right" he smiled into the phone.

"Everything is going as planned, I assure you. It's actually going even better than I expected."

"Speak soon" he said and ended the call before resting back against his bed. He was here to do what he had to do. He couldn't believe how stupid they were not to notice anything. Well he would admit that he would be the least person they would expect to go through with something like this. He grinned and adjusted his glasses.

. . . . . . .

_**So this is the new story, I hope you enjoy it and give any positive criticism which I'm sure it needs. Thanks for reading. **_


End file.
